Don Lajoie
Even in Haiti, where its scythe has historically yielded some of its most propitious harvests, death does not always triumph.
Proof of that can be found in the latest chapter in the ongoing 25-year story The Star has brought you about local retired detective Frank Chauvin and the hundreds of girls he has raised at his orphanage amid the slums of Port-au-Prince.
It’s a story that easily could have ended differently. But there they were, in October, dozens of Chauvin’s latest 60 wards, milling about the courtyard, studying in the shade of a mango tree or moving beds into the dormitories of a new home, built with $300,000 in donations, much of that raised here, to replace one damaged beyond repair by the murderous earthquake of 2010.
On Jan. 12 that year, Port-au-Prince was convulsed by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that engulfed its citizens in an avalanche of crumbling concrete and twisted iron. Tens of thousands died instantly. Others were buried alive, where they suffered for days before succumbing to their injuries. The final death toll is estimated at over 200,000. Tens of thousands more were maimed.
Two girls and an employee from Chauvin’s orphanage died that night. Sixty survived, bruised and shaken, but alive. The building stood. But there were cracks “you could put your hand through,” Chauvin recalled. For months, as the wounded city trembled from aftershocks, his girls huddled in makeshift shelters.
“They were so afraid to go inside,” Paula Thybulle, director of Chauvin’s orphanage, recalled. “They’d scream, couldn’t sleep.”
Chauvin couldn’t sleep either. “I was a basket case. Couldn’t get any news. Didn’t know how much damage or who was hurt.”
What the girls couldn’t know was that Chauvin had also been engaged in his own fight for survival. In the years previous to the disaster, he waged a battle against a serious form of cancer doctors believed he would be fortunate to survive.
In 2004, an X-ray revealed a shadow on his lung. Further tests showed Chauvin had small-cell cancer. The prognosis was frightening. He was told the disease was aggressive and would likely attack his brain within months. Once it invaded the brain, radiation could only be used safely once. Alternative treatment would be employed.
“I learned just three per cent of people with that cancer survive,” said Chauvin. “I was put on an experimental drug. Only 18 other people were on it in all Canada. It turned my arms black and made the skin like leather. Because it was experimental they watched me like a hawk.”
But the treatment worked. Within months, doctors were shocked to discover the cancer had disappeared. He has been cancer-free for 10 years and credits his faith for his recovery. However the battle left him weakened. Chauvin has experienced other medical issues since. He suffers chronic back pain and often can only breathe with the aid of an oxygen canister.
Chauvin, 81, can no longer handle the ordeal travel to Haiti entails.
Nevertheless, in the earthquake’s aftermath, he faced caring for more than 50 girls, from pre-schoolers to teenagers, subsisting amid the death and destruction of a desperate city.
Chauvin knew he had to rebuild.
And, as always, this community came through. But not just Windsor this time. Following extensive news coverage, donations poured in from across Canada, hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Chauvin purchased land and construction began. There would be dorms, office and classroom space, a kitchen and dining area, all on property eight times larger than the old home.
But progress was slow. “In Haiti, nothing is easy,” Chauvin observed.
Initially, construction material was hard to get as the country struggled to rebuild. Then a hurricane wiped out a bridge on the road to the site and work stalled. Security was limited. “They were stealing us blind. People don’t realize how difficult it is.”
For four years Chauvin longed to tell supporters the project was complete, that the girls were in their new home. Instead he could only ask for patience, which he often found in short supply himself.
Finally, in October, the girls began moving in.
“I’m content here,” said resident Philyse Derrestant, 17. “Here it’s prettier and bigger, less crowded. It’s a big difference.”

Her sister, Jusina Pierre, 19, agreed. “Now I can sleep. After the earthquake we didn’t even feel safe.”
Still, all the work was clearly not finished. Children ran barefoot in what essentially remains a construction site, loose gravel and broken stone everywhere.
“Prices keep going up,” Thybulle explained. “It started at $35 but a bag of cement is now $75.” She estimated it may take a further US $75,00 to finish the project.
“Estimates have gone out of whack,” added Chauvin. “What can you do? You can’t stop. You keep going. I’ve got 20 girls in high school. That’s expensive. We do what we can with what we’ve got.”
Nonetheless, disappointment would be misplaced. Haiti stories rarely have a Hollywood ending. A hopeful one is usually the happiest that can be asked for. And a story in which death has been cheated not once, but 60 times, offers hope enough. Frank’s girls are home.
You can contact Frank Chauvin at 519-945-0969.
Don Lajoie is a retired Windsor Star reporter

Moving day as the 60 girls deliver their beds to Frank Chauvin’s new orphanage in Haiti, replacing the one damaged in the 2010 earthquake. (Photo by Don Lajoie)

Moving day as the 60 girls deliver their beds to Frank Chauvin’s new orphanage in Haiti, replacing the one damaged in the 2010 earthquake. (Photo by Don Lajoie)

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